Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak in support of the motion as amended calling for a review of the Child and Family Services Act and its implementation. Mr. Speaker, all Members are aware from their work with constituents that there are very complex issues involved in family law or among the most difficult, painful and contentious situations we encounter. Issues involving family breakdown, the care and safety of our children, situations of controversial evidence and decisions dictating custody and visitation are painful for everyone. For parents, children and the protection and enforcement officials called upon to act on behalf of society, this is very hard going.
The will of the courts, access to legal aid, the unfair balance of resources between government and legal aid lawyers, support of our legal aid professionals and the actual and potential role of court workers all interact with child and family services’ decisions and policy and are an area that must be considered in this review. Recently, the Department of Justice has implemented a number of initiatives that will help. For example, the mediation service for couples applying for divorce now can be considered as mandatory in some jurisdictions.
Our law of governing these situations, the Child and Family Services Act, is 10 years old, yet we know there are aspects of it that have not been acted upon and there are gaps such as the 16 to 18-year-old youth mentioned. Child and family services is an area of public policy that is always on the move, changing with case law and emerging attitudes and the development of improved means to bring about humane solutions to disputes and situations of hardship. The basis of society’s attitudes is constantly changing, especially in regards to gender balance and custody orders and views on the nature of parental control and definitions of abuse. At a minimum, our implementation of law must react to these changes and continually improve itself in this extremely delicate area of public policy.
It is time we looked again long, hard and thoughtfully at how we help children and parents through the most difficult times of their lives. From our work with constituents, we also know that our processes have some serious shortcomings. It is time to take stock and refocus our ability to help in keeping with today and safeguarding our future that is our children.
I fully support the motion as amended for a review of child and family services with special regard to the children and the role of the parent and will vote in support of the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.